The Walking Dead Season 5 Spoilers: Will Carl Grimes Lose an Eye?

Credit:
Gene Page/AMC
Photo: Carl Grimes Peeks Out of the Car in The Walking Dead Season 4, Episode 16: “A”

You’ll shoot your eye out, kid! The Walking Dead TV show is always a remix of the comic books, and when something big happens on TV it doesn’t often happen to the same person on screen that it did in print. For example…

*comic book spoilers ahead*

Credit:
Gene Page/AMC
Photo: Carl Grimes Has a Cut on His Face in The Walking Dead Season 4, Episode 16: "A"

Way back in Season 2, Carl was shot by Otis, and that also happened in the comics (although other details were changed). Now we’re preparing for Season 5, which is just about to film its second half. It looks like they are building a giant wall around a bunch of houses in Senoia, Georgia to represent the Alexandria Safe-Zone of the books. In the comics, there’s a herd attack not too long after Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and company arrive and, in the panic, ASZ leader Douglas Monroe starts shooting wildly and hits Carl in the head. Carl ends up losing his right eye and part of his face. He survives, but with memory loss, forgetting things like the fact that his mom died back at the prison.

Will they cover that storyline on or around the Season 5 finale?

A couple of months ago, TWD fan Trev made a YouTube video questioning whether Carl might lose an eye this season. The Governor lost an eye back in Season 3 and they covered it up with an eye patch, so it’s not like it’s a major issue for the TV story to deal with, unlike having to CG Rick’s hand (if they ever go in that direction). However, Trev guessed “no” on the Carl/eye question, speculating that it would be changed, and maybe someone else would be shot in a remix of that storyline. Fans shared their thoughts in the comments, with one arguing, “It should happen. Its important to Carl's character because of the memory loss. It really hardens him and I think its important that it happens.﻿”

Maybe it will. They already changed Carl’s TV story by taking away the Ben/Billy child killer storyline, so maybe they don’t want to take away another major milestone. As Robert Kirkman told TheWalkingDead.com after “The Grove,” “There are certain things on the road to Carl’s evolution that are important benchmarks that push him along on his journey, and the Ben and Billy situation was definitely one of them, but the show is doing well and is theoretically going to go for a while, and there are a lot of things Carl’s going to have to do that can replace that situation and affect him in possibly better ways. There’s always room to explore those possibilities, and I don’t really feel like I lost anything by taking this situation from Carl and giving it to Carol.”

We’re definitely expecting them to keep the Carl/Negan stuff on TV, but what about Carl taking another bullet — this one to the face? Do you think they should have Carl be shot (again) and lose an eye, so he can start tolook badass like this? Should someone else get the eye treatment? Should they skip it, since Carl was already shot and The Governor already lost an eye, and some TV fans might find it repetitive?

The Walking Dead Season 5 premieres Sunday, October 12 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.